St. Paul plans to close three homeless encampments, starting with Pig’s Eye Park
St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her has announced a plan to close three homeless encampments in the city, beginning in August with the largest identified site at Pig’s Eye Park.
The announcement marks a shift away from St. Paul’s prior tolerance of established encampments. The plan is an executive-policy action announced by the mayor’s administration; the available reporting does not describe it as a City Council vote, ordinance or court order.
Pig’s Eye Park is the first site identified for closure. The report did not name the other two encampment locations or give a specific August date for the Pig’s Eye Park closure.
Administration signals change in approach
An assistant mayor, Cedrick Baker, told the St. Paul City Council that city officials did not want additional established encampments to continue. That position aligns with the administration’s planned closure of three sites.
The announced plan concerns established encampments, rather than a finding that homelessness has been resolved or that every person at the sites will receive shelter. The available report does not specify shelter capacity, a relocation plan, the number of people affected, or what outreach will occur before the closures.
It also does not detail the personnel who would carry out the closures, the handling of residents’ property, or the enforcement procedures that may be used. Those details remain important implementation questions as the first planned closure approaches.
Pig’s Eye Park is first on the schedule
The city has set August 2026 as the timeframe for the first closure at Pig’s Eye Park, but has not publicly provided an exact date in the available report. The timing places the plan at the implementation stage: a closure has been announced, but the packet does not establish that any of the three sites has yet been closed.
Because the other two locations have not been identified, it is not possible from the available information to determine the sequence of the remaining closures or whether they will occur on a shared schedule with Pig’s Eye Park.
The policy shift has immediate consequences for city government planning because closures can require decisions about outreach, shelter availability, property removal and public-safety enforcement. The announced plan, however, does not itself establish the specific measures the city will take in each area.
Separate City Council engagement schedule
Separately, the St. Paul City Council has scheduled ward budget-engagement events beginning in August 2026. One listed event is set for Aug. 13 at 5:30 p.m.
The available city announcement does not link those budget-engagement events to the encampment-closure plan. Still, both schedules place city policy discussions and the first planned encampment closure in the same month.